Without Faith Read Free

states that if you as a therapist find out that someone is dangerous you are required to inform the targeted party.”
    â€œThat’s only if there is a stated or implied homicidal threat.”
    â€œYes, that’s right.” Jenellis nodded her head and turned away.
    I guess that meant good-bye. At the moment I did not care. I was supposed to be driving my son to the airport in twenty minutes. As I was about to sit down in the driver’s seat, I realized that I could not shake a question that was nagging me.
    â€œMs. Walker,” I called after her. She turned around and faced me again. “Whatever happened to your first husband? Did he face consequences for whatever he did to you?”
    She paused, looking over to a distant memory to the left of me. Then she looked me right in the eyes. “Ms. St. James, my first husband is dead. Of natural causes,” she quickly added.
    â€œOh,” was all I could say as I finally found my driver’s seat. Jenellis marched over to her Lexus, got in, shut the door, and sat there with the engine idling.
    My engine was on and I was off.
    Lord, I could not help but wonder as I turned off the small lot, what have I gotten myself pulled into with this couple?
    A familiar feeling, and not a pleasant one, sunk slowly into my stomach.
    Dread.

Chapter 2
    â€œPlease tell me you are all ready to go.” My heart sank the moment I stepped into the foyer of my home and saw Roman’s bare foot propped up onto my new coffee table, a noisy video game wrapped in his hands, and a suspiciously small—and only half-filled—duffel bag sitting on the floor next to his other bare foot.
    â€œHuh?” He didn’t even bother to look up from whatever game he was playing.
    â€œHuh? Is that your way of saying hello now?” I shook my head, wanting to kick myself for believing that Roman was capable of packing appropriately for a week-and-a-half trip across the country. He’d turned sixteen earlier in the month, and although he was maintaining a B+ average in trigonometry and working steadfastly at his part-time job at a store in White Marsh Mall, I swear I felt like I was still dealing with a six-year-old sometimes.
    â€œRoman.” I plucked the video console from his hands. “We have to leave for the airport in no more than ten minutes. Where is your luggage?”
    â€œOfficer Sanderson has it,” he mumbled as he stretched and stood. Potato chip crumbs fell from his lap.
    â€œLeon has your bags?” I resisted the urge to pat my hair to make sure it was in place as I scanned my living and dining rooms. I kept a full length mirror against the far wall, but I knew that the image in it would not be comforting.
    I had not gotten a relaxer in a couple of months as I was considering wearing my hair all-natural and chemical free, but now my hair looked like something between a shoulder-length bob and a chia plant as I struggled to imitate the hair care videos I’d found online. My eyebrows needed to be arched, and I’d yet to start my New Year’s resolution to lose the extra pounds I’d picked up since I’d turned thirty what felt like many years ago.
    It was March. So much for my New Year “new me” quest.
    I had my eyes, though. Almond-shaped and captivating and emphasized with extra coats of eye liner and mascara, I knew that my eyes were the defining feature of my face and capable of making all my other physical flaws forgivable. At least that is what Leon hinted to me at times.
    â€œIs . . . Leon here?” I managed to breathe out, hoping that my son did not hear my heart’s sudden hard pounding.
    â€œYou didn’t get my message? Oh, I forgot to leave it.” Roman yawned. “Officer Sanderson called about an hour ago and I asked him if he could take me since you hadn’t come home from work yet.”
    I didn’t know what bothered me more: the fact that my son really had thought I